Written by a New Yorker, “Dixie” became popular as secessionists sought a new anthem to represent their cause.
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Ole Miss’s decision to jettison this vestige of the Civil War South is no real surprise.
In this October 17, 2009 photo taken before the NCAA college football game in Oxford, Miss., the University of MS band, “The Pride of the South”, play the national anthem in Oxford, Miss. “It fits in with where the university has gone in terms of making sure we follow our creed, core values of the athletic department, and that all people feel welcome”. The school earlier dropped use of the Colonel Rebel mascot and a year ago stopped displaying the state flag because it includes the Confederate battle emblem.
In 1997, then-Chancellor Robert Khayat banned hand-held flagpoles from the stadium, effectively ending the waiving of battle flags. The current Ole Miss mascot is the black bear, but the team is still known as the Rebels.
Below, the band’s first director to put “Dixie” on the field, Dr. Luther Snavely, addresses former Pride of the South members about the controversy surrounding “Dixie”, and says that some writer for the New York Times said their version of the song “would make a Quaker liberal stand up and cheer”. Recently the band stopped playing the song during games, but had continued to perform it in The Grove on game days.
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Dropping the tune is the latest step by the university to divest itself of racially divisive symbols of the Old South.
